Including women, building lasting peace

Women lead peace movements and drive community recovery after conflict, but are still rare faces in forums to negotiate peace and settle security issues. Exclusion from post-conflict reconstruction constrains opportunities to recover, gain justice for abuses and shape reformed laws and public institutions. In 2014, UN Women helped women in 66 countries expand their roles in peace, security and humanitarian responses, and coordinated related global action by the UN system.

Peace processes

For decades, sexual and gender-based violence went unchallenged in Colombia's internal conflict. Different armed groups used it to terrorize communities and destroy the social fabric. They targeted LGBTI civilians. In some armed groups, women combatants were raped and forced to have abortions. Few survivors spoke out, because even if they did, no one heard.

Despite their prevalence, sexual and gender-based crimes have rarely been prosecuted in Colombia. As it moves to end hostilities, however, understanding has grown among judicial officials that for peace to take root, the time for impunity is over. UN Women has helped advance investigations and prosecution by connecting the Attorney General's Office with top international experts, such as Daniela Kravetz, who spent a decade prosecuting similar violations at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

"I have worked a long time with victims," Kravetz says. "Justice is their right, and I will do whatever I can to bring that to them."

She now assists Colombian prosecutors with techniques to interview survivors, and in developing investigation plans and legal case theories. Following international courts, a new legal model is being instituted aimed at not just prosecuting individual cases, but connecting them so that leaders who orchestrated massive violations can be charged as well. The move comes not a moment too soon, given an enormous backlog of cases likely to emerge in the transition to peace-and the probability of a surge in new cases as combatants return to their communities.

As Colombia's broader peace process unfolds, UN Women has also backed women's unprecedented roles in the talks. Thorough training has honed skills of women negotiators so they can be the most effective gender advocates. Women participate on an equal footing in massive regional and national consultations linked to the process, and comprise a majority of delegations of victims presenting their concerns to the negotiations. A gender sub-committee provides ongoing inputs to keep gender equality high on the agenda.

Transitional justice

In Uganda, until 2014, there was little formal recognition of the harm suffered by people in the northern part of the country at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army. That changed when Parliament finally passed a resolution to assist conflict-affected groups. UN Women joined civil society groups and parliamentarians in backing the measure, which draws attention to sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls, and paves the way for transitional justice and reparations.

Legal recognition of women survivors of violence during the armed conflict in Kosovo (Under UN Security Council Resolution 1244) came to pass in 2014, following sustained advocacy by UN Women in partnership with civil society. The move was part of a new 1325 Action Plan, dedicated to fulfilling provisions of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security. A national council will extend services and reparations; UN Women has already begun trainings for judges, prosecutors and investigators on dealing with war crimes involving sexual violence.

El Salvador signed its peace accords 22 years ago, but the wounds of a vicious conflict remain, regularly reopened through widespread instability and impunity for violence. How the conflict specifically affected women had never been clearly understood, until UN Women embarked on comprehensive research on the issue.

This affirmed that most women survivors of violence had received no recognition or justice, and many who took on non-traditional roles during the conflict were forced back into traditional ones rooted in discriminatory norms. Strong evidence and compelling advocacy led to the creation of El Salvador's first National 1325 Committee to tackle these issues. It brings together the heads of major ministries, including foreign affairs, defense, labour, health and education, as well as parliamentarians and women's groups.

“An end to impunity is possible. We must give survivors reassurance that justice will prevail. It is the only way forward.”

Women of achievement

Holo Makwai: On a quest to end impunity for the world's worst crimes

For over 20 years, lawyer Holo Makwaia has been a leader in the quest to end impunity for crimes perpetrated in conflicts.

A native of Tanzania, she was among the first investigators cataloguing human rights violations after Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Later, as a senior trial attorney at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she prosecuted some of its largest and most complex cases, securing the first conviction for war crimes. The life sentence of former minister Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the only woman tried for rape and genocide, broke new ground in international jurisprudence.

Today, Makwaia is part of a unique roster of experts, sponsored by UN Women and Justice Rapid Response. They ensure justice upholds the rights of women caught in some of the world's most complex conflicts. Makwaia recently collected evidence in the Democratic Republic of Congo against former general Bosco Ntaganda, charged with war crimes. For the first time, the International Criminal Court agreed to hear all charges related to sexual and gender-based crimes.